IPO boom and Listings - Newspaper Summary

 The sources highlight a dynamic and structurally changing IPO and listings market in India as of October 30, 2025, operating within a context of generally solid domestic economic performance, caution regarding global markets, and significant corporate updates.

I. The Indian IPO Boom and Market Structure Shift

India is positioned as one of the world's hottest initial public offering (IPO) venues, with total proceeds currently trending toward the previous year's record tally of $21 billion. So far in 2025, more than 300 listings have raised almost $16 billion, making India the world's fourth-busiest IPO venue globally, behind only Hong Kong and mainland China in Asia.

Shift towards Domestic Investor Dominance: A major theme driving the current listings wave is the structural shift in who is buying these new stocks.

• A rapidly expanding pool of money from domestic mutual funds, insurers, and millions of retail investors is now dominating the IPO space.
• The share of domestic investments in initial share sales stands at almost 75% for 2025, marking the highest level for any year in which proceeds exceeded ₹1 trillion (approximately $11.3 billion).
• This reliance on domestic capital reduces the dependence of India’s equity capital market on foreign funds, helping to create a potentially self-sustaining IPO market.
• Domestic institutional investors' ownership in over 2,000 companies listed on the NSE has risen for five straight quarters to 19.2% as of June, the highest level in 25 years.
• This investor appetite is voracious, leading some bankers to work 15-hour days due to a robust pipeline, with 80 firms having received regulatory approval and 121 applications filed with the regulator.

Investor Returns and Market Concerns:

• New listings appear to be a rewarding bet, as Indian IPOs have generated a weighted average return of 18% this year, outperforming the 9.7% advance in the NSE Nifty 50 Index.
• However, the excitement comes with risks, notably excessive valuations for some companies and over-subscription rates sometimes surpassing 100 times for tiny IPOs, leading to concerns about potential corrections.

II. Corporate IPO and Listing Updates

Several companies are active in the IPO or listing pipeline, indicating strong confidence among issuers:

• Studds Accessories Limited IPO: The company is making an Initial Public Offering of up to 7,786,120 equity shares (face value ₹5 each).
  • The Bid/Offer Period opens today, October 30, 2025, and closes on Monday, November 3, 2025.
  • The Price Band is set at ₹557 to ₹585 per equity share.
  • The IPO is an Offer for Sale (OFS), meaning the company itself will not receive any proceeds; the selling shareholders are entitled to the funds.
  • The valuation metrics show the company trading at a premium: the Price to Earnings Ratio (P/E) at the upper end is 33.05 times, significantly higher compared to the Nifty P/E ratio of 22.67 times (as of October 24, 2025).
  • The equity shares are proposed to be listed on the main board of the BSE (Designated Stock Exchange) and the NSE. Trading is expected to commence on or about Friday, November 7, 2025.
• Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.: The Teaneck, New Jersey-headquartered IT services company is weighing a potential primary offering and a secondary listing in India.
  • A primary motivation for seeking an India listing is the expectation of better valuation in the country, as homegrown IT services firms typically trade at 22-23 times earnings, much higher than Cognizant’s current P/E ratio of about 13.
  • If listed, Cognizant would become India's second-largest listed IT services company, trailing only Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The listing is currently viewed as a long-term project.
• Imagine Marketing (boAt): The parent company of the Indian wearables brand has lowered its IPO size to ₹1,500 crore ($170.7 million), months after securing regulatory approval. This follows a shelved plan in 2022 for a ₹2,000 crore IPO.
• LG Electronics India Ltd: LG’s recent $1.3 billion IPO was fully subscribed in six-and-a-half hours on October 7, marking the fastest take-up in 17 years among major Indian IPOs.
• BlueStone: The successful listing of the omnichannel jewellery retailer in August bolstered investor sentiment in the demi-fine jewellery segment.
• Lenskart Solutions: SBI Mutual Fund invested ₹100 crore in a pre-IPO funding round, acquiring shares from a promoter. Radhakishan Damani also participated in a pre-IPO transaction.
• Akasa Air: The founder and CEO stated that the airline plans to explore an IPO within the next two to five years.
• OpenAI: The company’s newly approved corporate structure may pave the way for a blockbuster public listing as soon as 2027.
• Future Pipeline: Closely watched billion-dollar-plus offerings expected in the next year or two include Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE), and Flipkart India Pvt..

III. Market and Economic Context

The flourishing IPO market is situated against a backdrop of positive macroeconomic signals in India:

• Capex Revival: Engineering giant Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) reported a sharp recovery in domestic infrastructure orders in the September quarter, flashing the first signs of a much-awaited recovery in India's private capital expenditure (capex). L&T’s domestic infrastructure order receipts jumped 50% year-on-year, crossing the ₹20,000 crore mark for the first time in five fiscal quarters.
• Macroeconomic Stability: India is characterized by a stable economic footing, with the current account deficit expected to be less than 1% of GDP in 2025-26, and inflation dropping to sub-4% levels. India’s GDP growth forecast for 2025 has been raised by the IMF from 6.4% to 6.6%.
• Global Market Caution: While India's domestic fundamentals are strong, global market analysts express caution. The US equity market valuation is viewed as stretched, making up 50% of the global market cap but only 26% of global GDP, raising concerns about a potential correction that could impact global markets, including India.
• Regulatory Environment: The market regulator, SEBI, has proposed changes to increase transparency for investors, including capping the brokerage and transaction costs that asset management companies (AMCs) can charge investors over and above the Total Expense Ratio (TER). This move, while aimed at improving transparency and potentially boosting long-term returns for retail investors, has drawn resistance from fund houses who anticipate a squeeze on profit margins.
• Debt Market Refinancing: Goswami Infratech, a Shapoorji Pallonji Group unit, is planning a $2.5 billion debt sale in early 2026 to refinance its existing corporate bond, highlighting ongoing activity in the corporate debt space. This comes as creditors opted not to exercise an early redemption option on Goswami's high-yield corporate rupee bond.
• India's Emerged Market Status: Sustained reforms and economic resilience have led an RBI deputy governor to suggest that India is on a path to graduate from an emerging to an emerged market status in the coming decades, potentially within the next few years.